1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a mouse for an electronic device and, more particularly, to a mouse having an actuating base and a moving assembly for the actuating base with an elongate member that is repositionable relative to the actuating base.
2. Background Art
The computer mouse has been around for decades. In its basic form, a housing is provided to be supported on a flat guide surface that is typically planar and horizontally oriented. Two-dimensional motion of the housing causes movement of a cursor on a display. Wheels and one or more buttons are operable to perform different operations, dependent upon the system hardware and software.
The mouse housing is typically made with a nominally rectangular footprint surface that blends upwardly into a convex shape that can be nested in a user's hand with the user's hand in a palm down orientation relative to a horizontal guide surface. The housing is normally shaped and dimensioned so that when operatively held by a user's hand, the user's palm abuts to, and can be slid along, the horizontal guide surface for the mouse. The mouse is designed so that the footprint surface maintains continuous contact with the underlying guide surface whereupon there is continuous and uninterrupted interfacing with an associated computer.
Computer usage continues to increase, in the workplace, at home, and as a recreational activity. Workers may spend a majority of a workday operating a mouse. With the above, traditionally-shaped mouse, this extensive use may lead to physical injuries, such as carpal tunnel syndrome, forearm or elbow tendonitis, trigger finger, muscle and tissue damage, etc., and, short of injury, muscular fatigue. This problem is aggravated by repeated motions such as movement of the wrist from side to side and clicking of mouse buttons.
The potential for injury results from the fact that the hand operating the traditional mouse is rotated from the safest and most efficient “neutral” hand position, wherein the hand is at rest such as on a lap wherein the little finger lies against the lap, the thumb projects upwardly, and the palm is open to the side facing inwardly. To grasp the traditional mouse, the hand is turned so that the thumb is rotated downwardly, with the wrist region at the base of the thumb engaging the underlying surface. This produces a significant bending of the wrist that may be maintained for extensive periods as the mouse is operated. As a result, the carpal tunnel nerve becomes compressed and blood flow to the hand may be restricted. Movement of the mouse causes the wrist to incline upwardly and move from side to side to aggravate this condition.
A multitude of different mouse housings have been designed and are currently available on a commercial level. However, most of these mouse designs focus on user feel while still maintaining the palm down hand orientation that is detrimental to the user's hand and wrist constitution.
One alternative mouse construction is the “pen mouse” that incorporates an optical device in the handle thereof. The user is required to hold a pen strategically above a work surface for computer pointing. While the desired neutral hand position may be maintained, the controlled elevation and shifting of the mouse requires the bending of the wrist joint and a constant tension in this region to operate the mouse. The hovering relationship of the mouse also makes it difficult to generate fine motor control.
Another drawback with optical pen devices is that some designs require perpendicularity to the work surface. This requires an awkward hand and wrist angle that again may contribute to physical fatigue and/or injuries.
Pen tablets have limitations similar to those of the above-described pen mouse. Pen tablets further require a tablet to work in conjunction with the pen while interfacing with a computer.
In U.S. Pat. No. 6,795,057, issued to Gary B. Gordon, a design is shown in FIG. 1a incorporating a “mouse-pen” construction. A cylindrical rod is designed to be held generally as one would conventionally hold a writing instrument to carry out a writing action. The graspable rod is connected to a base through a flexible coupling that is described to be a bendable piece of plastic or elastomer that returns to a set shape. A number of limitations appear inherent to this design.
First of all, the rod has a pre-selected orientation relative to the base that may not be comfortably adaptable to all users. While the rod could be reoriented by bending the plastic/elastomer, this action may cause the base to tilt relative to the underlying surface, which may interrupt computer interfacing.
Further, by reason of the relationship between the rod and base, grasping of the rod as a writing instrument would cause interference between the user's fingertips and the base. To avoid this situation, the fingers may be repositioned to grasp the base, which may shift the hand out of the preferred neutral position towards a palm down orientation, as shown in FIG. 2D. While the rod may continue to function to facilitate grasping of the mouse by a user, the ergonomic advantages that may avoid injury or fatigue may be lost in good part or altogether.
While the use of computer mice on a worldwide basis is extensive, and has been for years, and the use of an external mouse is common with the majority of these uses, the industry has not arrived at a design that is effectively operational yet addresses the above concerns—notably user injury and fatigue associated with extensive mouse manipulation with a user's hand less than optimally oriented. The industry is in critical need of a mouse design that will allow extensive use thereof without any significant detrimental physical effects.